Esus2sus4 guitar chord
The third voice from the top lowered an octave. The dropped voice becomes the bass, which is why a string is skipped.
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About Esus2sus4 — drop 3 voicings
Esus2sus4 is E, F#, A and B — Esus4 with the second added underneath the fourth.
It sounds ringing and deliberately ambiguous. Read another way it is a stack of fourths, which is why it works as a pad rather than as a chord that resolves.
Esus2sus4 notes and formula
| E | F# | A | B |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
Texture more than function — still no third.
Also written Esus2/4 or E suspended 2nd and 4th. The same chord either way; which spelling you meet depends on who wrote the chart.
How to play Esus2sus4
The same operation one voice further down: the third voice from the top falls an octave and becomes the bass.
That leaves a bigger hole under the top three notes, so a string gets skipped: the muted string in the middle is the shape, not a mistake.
Esus2sus4 has 9 of them, on strings 6-4-3-2 and strings 5-3-2-1, from the 2nd fret up to the 12th — every inversion the chord has: E in the bass, F# in the bass, A in the bass and B in the bass. The one to learn first is the F# shape at the 2nd fret.
5 of them sit on strings 6-4-3-2, so you can run the inversions up one set without changing strings — which is the whole reason to learn them as a family rather than as separate grips.
Start with x74455 — no barre and low, at the 4th fret. 2 of the 6 shapes here sit in open position. 4 of the 6 need a barre. Together they cover the neck from the 2nd fret to the 14th.
| Frets | Where | Bass | Top | Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 002202 | open position | E, root position | F# | barred |
| 022202 | open position | E, root position | F# | barred |
| x74455 | 4th fret | E, root position | A | all fretted |
| x77977 | 7th fret | E, root position | B | barred |
| 12-12-9-11-x-x | 9th fret | E, root position | F# | all fretted |
| 12-12-14-14-12-14 | 12th fret | E, root position | F# | barred |
The same notes rebuilt from scratch give 14 drop 2 and 6 open string voicings, each on its own page.
How to use Esus2sus4
In which keys. Every note of Esus2sus4 belongs to C# minor (the ♭III), D major (the ii), E major (the I), E minor (the i), F# minor (the ♭VII), G major (the vi), A major (the V) and B minor (the iv).
What to play over Esus2sus4
Every note of Esus2sus4 is in E major, E mixolydian, E dorian, E natural minor and E harmonic minor.
Chords near Esus2sus4
Change one note of Esus2sus4 and you have Esus2 (drop the fourth), Esus4 (drop the ninth), Eadd9 (the fourth becomes a major third), E7sus4 (the ninth becomes a flat seventh), E11 (add the flat seventh) or E/F# (the fourth becomes a major third).
Esus2sus4 is a suspended chord — root and fifth, with a second or fourth where the third would be — or nothing at all. Suspended and power chords on every root.
On Esus2sus4’s sound and use this page follows Robert Rawlins & Nor Eddine Bahha, Jazzology (Hal Leonard, 2005). The shapes and the derived voicings come from different places, and both are explained in where the chords and the theory come from.